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Sometimes the daytime action at Hopscotch can be even more intense than the evening, as showcases like the Merge/OCSC day party at King’s have a habit of bringing out top local talent to draw the local crowd. For my money, few local acts are more exciting right now than Carrboro, NC’s Object Hours, whose bandcamp helpfully promises to keep songs “under 25 minutes for your sake.” The band’s instrumental explorations, at least during this set, aren’t quite that long, but it’d be just fine if they were. The players — Nora Rogers, Jenny Waters and Harrison Haynes — are vets of a number of bands, and that experience and confidence shows in their improvisational style. For any fan of modern music for heads, add Object Hours to the top of your list — this is a band to watch.

Our man Dave Schwentker made this recording from an optimal spot in the venue using an Olympus LS-10 and its included mics. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

I should possibly apologize to Rosali Middleman, one of the three Long Hots, for referring to her guitar playing as “feral” in last year’s review of this band’s Three Lobed / WXDU show, their third ever. If you’ve heard her other work, particularly her outstanding latest record Trouble Anyway, you wouldn’t necessarily know it was the same person as the one shredding on these scuzz-rock numbers. It was more a statement the style of her guitar playing for this band than the, you know, quality. But I digress. A year later, Long Hots continue to be one of Philadelphia’s best up and coming exports. The band’s gritty, garage-style approach recalls Philly brethren Spacin’ and Purling Hiss, and like those bands, the Long Hots can make it feel like a 3 a.m. rager in some hopped-up dirtball’s basement even if they’re actually playing a day show in a much-nicer-than-average local club. This five-song set almost doubled last year’s set in length and at least matched it in intensity, showing us new songs that (one day?) could fill out a full LP. As for now, Long Hots remain “Philadelphia’s most anticipated band” in that respect, as they continue to hone their live chops. You can catch another flavor of that on the band’s sole release, the Monday Night Raw cassette, which is exactly what it sounds like.

I recorded this set with a blend of onstage Schoeps microphones, a pair of mics in the audience, and a soundboard feed. It’s a fun recording. Enjoy!

It’s an article of faith that artists who are friends of Three Lobed Recordings always bring their best for the label’s annual Hopscotch day show showcase, co-sponsored with Durham’s WXDU. Nathan Bowles, a multi-year veteran of the event, outdid himself this year, choosing to use this platform to debut his new trio with Casey Toll on double bass and Rex McMurry on drums. Although this was the trio’s very first show, you wouldn’t necessarily have known it, as Bowles and the new band added new heft to what were originally his solo songs (“Blank Range”) as well as coming out strong with new ones (one untitled, one known as “Freshfaced”). Bowles’ current music has already redefined and expanded the notion of modern banjo music, but the trio promises to push things even further, offering the opportunity to head in directions he hasn’t yet contemplated in other groups in which he participates, such as the Black Twig Pickers. For one, these songs feel a bit more like rock songs, with McMurry’s drumming pushing a faster tempo and an overall heavier direction, particularly on the new song. “Freshfaced.” Seeing Nathan Bowles is always a treat — and it’s something we do as often as we can — and this trio only adds to the anticipation of what he’s up to next. Bowles has a few shows around the southern U.S. this month, so go have a listen if you can.

I recorded this set with Evan Lamb’s house mix, plus an additional soundboard feed of the banjo, together wtih Schoeps MK4V microphones onstage, and AKG 460 cardiod mics hung over the audience. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

After attending one of the four 2014 Jason Molina tributes put on by his former bandmates and special guests, I wasn’t sure whether the tradition would continue. Thankfully, many of those same former Magnolia Electric Co. bandmates (as well as Mike Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger) were on hand for this extremely special evening at Hopscotch Music Festival (you can see the full lineup of people below). It’s not possible to replicate what Molina had, that injured moan of a voice with such depth behind it, but as these folks have proven, it is possible for his indelible songwriting to live on through others. Molina was much more than a performer or songwriter; he was a poet of the human condition and a penetrating chronicler of his own struggles.

Though a different vibe than the intimate Hideout in Chicago, this set established its own tension between celebration and mourning. Each musician onstage was connected with Molina in some way, and the set spanned several of Molina’s projects, from Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co. to his solo work. No matter what flavor or style of Molina’s work you enjoyed most, there was something for you, from the countrified “Old Black Hen” and “Hope Dies Last” to more rocking numbers like “Hot Black Silk” and the “The Dark Don’t Hide It.” But as is so often the case for me personally, it was the two closing songs from 2003’s landmark Magnolia Electric Co. that got to me most — the impeccable, powerful statement of endurance and resurrection that is “Farewell Transmission,” followed by the elegiac “Hold On Magnolia,” an anticipation of an eventual end, abetted by its desperate plea to hold on a bit longer. Molina’s music is eternal, whether or not it continues to be performed live, but my hope is that it continues to be, by this cast of characters or a similar one. He was a singular presence in music, worthy of paragraphs (and indeed, an excellent bio). But really, his music speaks for itself. So go enjoy it.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK4V microphones from the floor, together with a soundboard feed. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Kevin Morby’s star continues to rise, and deservedly so, with his latest album City Music continuing the confident vein of his previous work. Like most of Kevin’s recent shows that I’ve attended, this headlining night at King’s during Hopscotch Music Festival was packed. I’m not sure how much of a contribution the Volvo commercial has made to Kevin’s popularity, but anything that gets more people in the door for him, I’ll take it. Certainly, Morby is now far beyond the “formerly of Woods” label; he’s a big deal in his own right.

This being the end of the night, the crowd was fired up and rowdy, and Morby and his band handled that gamely, putting on a loose-but-rocking set to go with the overall mood. Morby kept the set focused on the new record, while sprinkling it with some of his best-loved songs, including “Harlem River” from Kevin’s first album, of the same name, plus “I Have Been to the Mountain,” “Dorothy,” and “Destroyer” from Singing Saw. But it was the “encore” portion of this show that will probably be best remembered, as Morby took us through his version of reggae-rockers Sublime’s mid-90s classic, “What I Got,” followed by his special version of the Velvet Underground’s “Rock & Roll.” It was the perfect kind of end-of-festival show, with a meeting of the minds between performer and audience that benefited both.

I recorded this set with our friend Randy’s installed AKG 460 microphones in the “FOB/DFC” position, plus a feed of Evan Lamb’s house mix. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

You can catch Kevin on his fall tour of Europe right now. See the dates on his website here.

Like any well-curated music festival, Hopscotch is very much an national and even global gathering, bringing in bands who otherwise might not make Raleigh, North Carolina one of their tour stops. But as much as Hopscotch should be celebrated for the riches it brings to the hometown crowd, it’s equally if not more responsible for giving a bigger platform to local and regional talent. To wit, on a stage that found Oh Sees and The Brian Jonestown Massacre headlining the night, the festival placed one of my favorite new bands of the festival, Asheville, North Carolina’s Nest Egg. With a dark, krautrock-inspired sound, Nest Egg went perfectly with the spooky light show and the “basement” (the giant bottom floor of the Raleigh Convention Center) setting. It’s hard to fully capture the effect of seeing this band live, but in person, the difference between them and the “merely OK” was evident; their sound is driving and delivered with precision, and that amplifies the already-considerable intensity of their music. In that respect, they remind me in a good way of the recently-disbanded Disappears, a longtime favorite of ours. Have a look at Nest Egg’s current material, and be on the lookout for future stuff from this outstanding band.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK41V microphones inside the soundboard cage, coupled with a soundboard feed. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

As a multitalented musician — a soundtrack composer, rock guitarist, and solo guitarist, among other things — it was nonetheless an exciting turn when the Bay Area (by way of NC) artist Chuck Johnson released Balsams, an album of pedal steel compositions that invented what Pitchfork rightly deemed a new genre unto itself: “country post-rock.” This being the annual Three Lobed Recordings / WXDUHopscotch Afternoon Jamboree at King’s in Raleigh, NC, Johnson did the only-partly-expected, playing a Balsams track, “Riga Black,” but reworking the original into an extended ambient meditation. There’s an undeniable grace and peace to the work that melded perfectly with the afternoon’s inclusive, forward-looking vibe. We never miss a chance to see Chuck in action, and Balsams is yet another evolution the career of a gifted and visionary artist.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK4V microphones onstage plus a soundboard feed of Evan Lamb’s house mix. The sound quality is outstanding! Note: If you purchased an earlier version (before 10/1/2017) of this from bandcamp, go back and snag this version, as it has been re-mastered to remove some glitches from the original.

Chuck performs at the Ambient Church in Brooklyn this Friday with Windy & Carl. Check it out.

Live at Three Lobed / WXDU Hopscotch Afternoon Jamboree 2017 by Dorji-Toth DuoTashi Dorji and James “Wooden Wand” Toth are both favorites of ours, each having performed some spectacular sets of music that we’vefeaturedinthepast (and more to come). Dorji is a modern day avant-guitar master, while Toth — best known for his Wooden Wand songwriting — can move fluidly through several genres, as comfortable in singer-songwriter mode as he is with the way out. This Three Lobed Recordings / WXDUHopscotch day show set featured the two men doing more of the latter, as the two men wove together a one-of-a-kind ambient noise improvisation. The mysterious box you see Toth in front of in the picture is the Octatone, a rare, handmade instrument by Forrest Marquisee of Virginia-based Forest Floor Studios, which you can learn more about here (watch a YouTube demo here). You can’t have one of these legendary day shows without a spiritual out performance, and this collaboration was that highlight for us this year. The connection between these players was such that this creation didn’t even start with a roadmap; what you hear is the organic evolution of two music minds in the act of creation. It’s a special moment not to be repeated, and it’s part of why I never miss a Friday at King’s in the early weeks of September.

I recorded this set with Evan Lamb’s house mix plus Schoeps MK4V microphones onstage. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

As longtime members of the Purling Hiss bandwagon, we’re always excited to see this band play live, and even more excited by the big-time reception those live shows usually get. That was the story here at the Three Lobed Recordings / WXDUHopscotch Afternoon Jamboree, where the Hiss set found the room at its most-packed point of the day, and for good reason. Mike Polizze and his current cast of co-conspirators (Ben Leaphart on drums, Pat Hickey on bass) brought the full amount of heat to the King’s stage on this sunny mid-afternoon, kicking off with the classic PH tune “Mercury Retrograde” before venturing into a long-haired rock version of Spacemen 3’s “Walking With Jesus.” It was the best kind of cover, abandoning the melodic, low-tempo Brit-psych of the original to boil the song to its rawest essence. After that, we headed into the deep Hiss catalog for “Run From the City” and “Almost Washed My Hair” (2009 and 2010 respectively) before the band sprung a final goodie, a song so new that it doesn’t yet have a name. What we do know about the song is, not-shockingly, it’s a fusillade of hard-charging guitars and ecstatic vibes. Like most things Purling Hiss, it rocks.

I recorded this set with Evan Lamb’s soundboard feed, together with Schoeps MK4V microphones onstage. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!

It just wouldn’t make sense to have a talent like Rosali Middleman, who performs as Rosali, show up for a Three Lobed Recordings / WXDUHopscotch day show and NOT do double duty. So after tearing shit up with the Long Hots earlier in the day, Rosali took the stage again to play her own material, including songs from her forthcoming second LP. Her 2016 debut, Out of Love, arrived like a confident tailwind in a year that was a veritable sea of tumult, and it’s worth revisiting it if you missed it then. This full-band set (featuring Nathan Bowles on drums, Paul Sukeena on guitar, and Dan Provenzano on bass) beefed up certain songs like the key Out of Love opener, “Good Life” as well as making a first (for many of us, at least) showing off new songs like “If I Was Your Heart” and “Dead and Gone.”

These Three Lobed / WXDU day shows tend to have a way of revealing themselves, with the internal logic of the order of (often) wildly divergent styles of bands evident only once you’re standing in the room. Such is the case with Rosali’s position near the end of the day. “Rise To Fall” is a new song of hers, and while certainly the emotional and musical highlight of Rosali’s set, it may also have been that for the whole day, as Middleman’s voice soared over the thick zone of guitars. It felt like an affirmation of all that is right about this day, every year, as a band that had started their set with a measured country-folk number was suddenly blowing the doors off the place with a huge rock song. These shows also have a way of veering from the intellectual to the contemplative to the delightfully weird, but somewhere, there’s always the urgent, throbbing heart, and for me, that was this moment. Stay tuned to Rosali’s bandcamp to find out more about the forthcoming album version.

I recorded this set with fellow taper Randy’s ceiling mounted AKG 460s together with the house mix by Kings’ Evan Lamb. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

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